TEA NEWS

A family of four in Bomet County is seeking for justice after their nine-year-old son was killed by a tea-harvesting machine. Emmanuel Kipkurui, who was slashed by the self-propelled machine is said to have been driven by curiosity to know how the machine was operated.

The Ministry of Agriculture says it will table to the Cabinet a request by tea traders to have the 16 percent value-added tax on packaging material and 35 percent duty on imported papers to be scrapped to allow them to sell the beverage to new markets other than the traditional ones currently facing economic woes.

By placing a base price, teas that do not attract this $2.43 are left unsold which raises the quantity of unsold stocks. Buyers are now getting alternative teas from other markets and factories, at the expense of KTDA farmers. One of the main issues that have faced small-scale tea farmers is the low prices of their tea leaves

Almost a dozen smallholder tea factories are seeking to dispose off parcels of land acquired in the last one decade to produce wood fuel to power boilers. The acquisition of the land spread mostly in semi-arid areas was seen as a cheaper solution to their power needs as the factories diversified from using furnace oil-powered boilers to those fired by wood fuel.

Tea farmers have a reason to smile and hope for better returns following the launch of a new clone that is high-yielding and drought resistant by the Tea Research Institute (TRI). Tea Research Institute (TRI) has called on tea farmers to embrace the new clone TRFK 31/8 which they say is also resistant to diseases, has wide adaptability to ever-changing weather patterns.

• The PSs pledged to work closely with other government agencies to address the issues raised. • They encouraged the EATTA to work on value addition of tea and expansion of the export market to curb over-reliance on traditional markets.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi has assured tea farmers that the government is putting in place necessary measures to improve their output and earnings.

SELECTIVE DEMAND AT IRREGULAR RATES WITH REPRINTS NEGLECTED BP1 : East KTDA 9/28 cts dearer. West KTDA firm at reserve prices to 4 cts dearer with reprints mostly neglected. Nandi up to 26 cts dearer. Limuru 4/16 cts dearer. Kericho up to 20 cts easier with selected better made types firm to 10 cts dearer.

Some factories affiliated with Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) in the West Rift have been forced to revise their minimum price, by reviewing the cost at which they sell their teas to release thousands of kilos of the commodity held in the warehouses.

The prolonged battle between the Kericho County Government and the United Kingdom-based tea firms over the deployment of tea harvesting machines is far from over after massive job losses due to the introduction of mechanization.

In 2009, Ramalinga Raju took India’s corporate scene by surprise when he resigned as chairman of Satyam Computer Services, the fourth-largest software exporter at the time

Agriculture and Livestock development CS Mithika Linturi has reiterated the government’s commitment to continuously support the tea industry and leverage on value addition.